What is Knowledge?

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Transcript of What is Knowledge?

Brainstorm:What is Knowledge? What is Knowledge?Aspects of Knowledge Production: MethodsWhat are methods in the sciences? What are methods in the social sciences? What are methods in the humanities? Aspects of Knowledge Production: MotivationsThought Experiement:

What arguments are being made by these headlines?The Atlantic, 2012Salon, 2014CNBC, 2014a dynamic conversation, a dialoguechanging over time (example: eggs)not just objective facts created in a vaccuumsubjective experienceasking how we know what we knowthinking about methodsWhat is a method? A plan of action, a systemic way of doing thingsobservationexperimentationcounting, quantitativethe scientific methodinterviewsobservations of peoplecountingarchival workreading (closely)discourse analysislookingcountingfinding patternsmight not be explicitWhy is the person writing this? What's the purpose?to find out something "true"to question a widely held belief (critique)to protest a way of thinkingto convince or persuadeAspects of Knowledge Production: ResultsWhat did the study show or prove? dispute an idea or way of thinking about thingscorroborate theories or challenge themnothing proven but new questions raised

√Aspects of Knowledge Production: Research Questions What did the study try to explain, argue, or discover?What makes a good research question?can't be answered with a simple yes or nocan be explained from numerous positionscan be researched through different methods

Examples:Science: What environmental factors cause lung cancer?Social Sciences: How does racism affect the lives of teens in Detroit?Humanities: How do people talk about or write about women in the 1930s?Implicationsan all encompassing question that draws on all the aspects of knowledge production

the "So what" question, the stakes

how does this connect to a bigger picture? Examples: Science: If we figure out what causes lung cancer, we can treat it or prevent it.

Social Science: If we find x about racism in Detroit, we could recommend y as a social policy.

Humanities: Women were imagined as x in the past. This idea is still around today/has changed to y.